Anthropographics in COVID-19 simulations

Abstract

Data visualization researchers and designers have explored a range of approaches to ensure that non-expert audiences understand and derive value from their work. Using anthropomorphized data graphics—or anthropographics—is one strategy that can help create a connection between data and audiences. Anthropographics have been defined as “visualizations that represent data about people in a way that is intended to promote prosocial feelings (e.g. compassion or empathy) or prosocial behavior (e.g. donating or helping).” However, during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, anthropographics were used in data visualizations that had an expanded range of rhetorical goals beyond promoting prosocial feelings and behavior—for instance, informing people about the pandemic, persuading them to adopt certain behaviors, or memorializing those killed by the virus. In particular, anthropographics were used in visualized simulations to model possible futures for audiences, showing the spread and impact of the virus in various scenarios. These simulations used anthropomorphizing strategies in text as well as in graphics, along with interactive options that enabled audiences to explore personal connections with the data. As demonstrated through a close reading of several of these COVID-19 simulations, anthropographics can be viewed holistically as a design strategy that incorporates text and interactivity as well as graphical marks in representing data. Findings from this analysis suggest several additions to the design space for anthropographics.

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“…These techniques further remind readers of the human and social significance of the data on an individual and societal level. Layering aggregate data and meaningful individual qualitative data, setting up comparisons with memorable historical events, and framing the magnitude of lives lost through individual dots, are techniques that anthropomorphize data (i.e., anthropographics, Sorapure, 2022 ).…”